1. Field of the Invention
My invention relates generally to collapsible, portable shelters and is more particularly directed to a lightweight collapsible shelter of the kind utilized by ice fisherman and the like.
2. Prior Art
The prior art is replete with shelters of various size, construction, and shape, the closest of which is illustrated in the following listing of United States Patents that have been collected in the course of evaluating my invnetion. No one, or any reasonable combination of the references listed below are believed to anticipate my novel and unobvious invention, as will be set forth below.
The following is a list of such patents:
__________________________________________________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Patentee Issue Date Title __________________________________________________________________________ 2,811,977 McClish Nov. 5, 1957 SHELTER SEAT 3,121,439 Moltchan Feb. 18, 1964 FOLDABLE CANOPY 3,174,493 Gruenberg Mar. 23, 1965 BEACH OR POOL-SIDE SHIELD 3,266,503 Hoiness et al Aug. 16, 1966 COLLAPSIBLE SHELTER 3,874,398 Hendrickson Apr. 1, 1975 LIGHTWEIGHT PORTABLE ICE FISHING SHELTER FRAME 4,632,138 Irwin Dec. 30, 1986 PORTABLE SHELTER 4,683,672 Davis Aug. 4, 1987 COLLAPSIBLE GAME BLIND __________________________________________________________________________
Of the patents listed above, U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,398 is of interest for its showing a collapsible shanty in which a collapsible frame is disposed around or within a canvas structure and includes a lateral spacer at the top from which the top of the canvas structure is suspended; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,174,493 and 3,266,503 are of interest in their showings of the use of helical coiled springs to provide a hinge function.